The rapid growth of international hospitality and tourism over the years has generated not only revenue for the countries involved, but also enormous employment opportunities. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), there were an estimated 880 billion visitors travelling across the world who spent up to US$852bil in 2009.

Hospitality and Tourism Management is a multi-disciplinary field of study with the purpose of preparing people with the expertise, commitment, and skills for management, marketing and operations positions in the expanding global industry. The greatest need in the hospitality and tourism industry is quality human capital that helps garner repeat as well as new tourists to the area.

The Management & Science University (MSU), one of Malaysia's top universities complements the need for high skills and expert human capital by offering both bachelor's degree and diploma in the hospitality and tourism specialization.

The Bachelor of Hospitality & Tourism Management (Hons) is an undergraduate academic programme that leverages on a unique learning opportunity in the combined disciplines of hospitality, tourism and management. Students pursuing the programme will be exposed both in the hospitality and tourism industry, as well as to the state-of-the-art technologies used in the fields of economics, management and marketing. As such, graduates of the programme are expected to be competent to handle not only the common hospitality and tourism practice but as well as provide advice on complex strategic issues in business decision making process.

The Diploma in Hospitality & Tourism Management will be exposed in the 'know how' and 'hands-on' training in both the hospitality and tourism areas of practices. As such, graduates of the programme are expected to be competent to handle the common hospitality and tourism practice as well as becoming the forefront supervisors and lower level managers that are able to advice on routine decision making process of the job scope.

Graduates will find ample opportunity in not only availing themselves in careers in hospitality and tourism industry but also in government services, academia as well as careers in internationally recognized hotels, event organizations and travel operators. Organizationally, graduates will be absorbed into hotels, event companies, travel agents, transport operators, corporations and companies, banks, multimedia telecommunication companies, marketing agencies etc.

The International Students Exchange Programme (ISEP) at MSU assists students towards enriching their academic pursuits at the international level. Through ISEP students may choose one of over 40 universities located in the USA, UK, Australia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand, India, and Indonesia to complete their degrees. The opportunity to study at these universities will further enrich the students' development and enhance their standings for a better career prospect.

The emphasis on programmes which are industry relevant has always been MSU central tenets. A symbiosis between academic curriculum and industrial shifts has been crucial in determining the relevancy of its product to current trends.

Such response to change has resulted in 95% of MSU's graduates securing employment during the first 6 months upon graduation.

MSU is committed at ensuring the best for its students. A comprehensive range of visiting professors who conduct regular semester visits provide valuable inputs to students. Further, various skills enhancement programmes which are aimed to improve competitiveness are offered to students.

Students from Sri Lanka will now have the opportunity to savour MSU's quality education through its Colombo Campus. Visit MSU Colombo Campus at 371, R.A. De Mel Mawatha, Colombo 3 or call 257 6900/ 257 6644/ 257 6700/ 257 7266 for further enquiries or visit www.msu.edu.lk.